When founders and sisters Renee and Tiffany Tam set out to build KIM+ONO, they weren’t just iterating on their family business. They weren’t just creating handcrafted flower silk robes inspired by their serendipitous childhood introduction to the traditional art of kimono. And they weren’t just building a community of like-minded folks who believe in kindness, self care, and wellness. Although all of those things were true, they were also handcrafting a small business where they could express themselves — and in turn, allow their customers to express themselves — every single day.
KIM+ONO has been more than just a business to the Tam sisters and our tiny team of ten. It has been a daily ritual with the intention to bring more beauty into this world and reconnect the past to the future, through the present. Whether we’re designing a new silk men’s bathrobe, or adding new details to a bridal silk robe, each and every day we are bringing our values of inclusivity, transparency, and quality to the table. So today in the journal, we are bringing you behind the scenes of our small family business to practice transparency, showing you the ins and outs of how we build our business and bring a little beauty to the world through our flower silk robes, every day.
Photo by Delbarr Moradi
Opening the Store: Our Kimono Store at the Heart of Chinatown
When we opened our brick and mortar storefront in San Francisco, we knew Chinatown had to be our home. That’s because for the Tam sisters, Chinatown was always a second home to them as they grew up in the city. The beauty of our kimono store is that it’s also connected to our online shop’s warehouse. Although our brick and mortar store and our online platform function completely independently from each other, they are housed in the same location which makes it easy for our team to interact with customers, help our community find what they need as quickly as possible, and fulfill our orders with quality assurance each and every time.
The first part of our day starts by opening up the store and welcoming our community in. You can come in and try on our ladies dusters or find the perfect bridal silk robe for your big day. You can shop our wellness goodies and ask us any questions you might have if you’re just visiting the neighborhood! We love the interactions we have with our customers at the store. We listen to your stories, hear how your flower silk robes have been woven into your lives, and get feedback in real time. It’s an honor we take to heart.
Filming Content: Styling Our Ladies Dusters For You
The beauty of a ladies duster or men’s silk bathrobe is there are endless ways to wear them! And we love guiding our customers in how to create a self-expressive style they love. So we spend a little time in the morning creating style content to help you find your favorite way to wear these kimono robes. Our store and warehouse team work together to show off beautiful and versatile style inspo, tutorials on how to tie back the sash on our ladies dusters, demonstrate the unboxing experience of our traditional Furoshiki Gift Wrap, and even how-to videos for steaming your ladies dusters at home. We try to give you as much helpful information as possible so that when you slip into your women’s and men’s silk bathrobe at home, you can feel confident in styling your new, handcrafted kimono robe right away.
Photo by Augie Chang
Supporting Our Community: Answering Customer Questions
Another favorite part of our day (surprise, surprise!) also involves our customers! And that part is when we answer your questions and offer customer experience support. While we don’t have the bandwidth to run and operate a customer service phone line, we do have a responsive experiential team who can help you via email, social media, and text. We love hearing about your questions because we love to share as much information with you as we can. Our customer experience team answers questions about how to style men’s silk bathrobes, how to apply discounts for your bridal silk robe orders, and any questions you have about laundering these botanical beauties. Not only do we help answer your questions, but we take your questions as inspiration for everything from social media posts to updated designs. We love to hear from you, and your words are always considered by our whole team!
Photo by Augie Chang
Collaborating with Artisans: Perfecting Our Designs
Our founders Renee and Tiffany design each and every flower silk robe in-house in San Francisco. They listen to music, get inspired by vintage Asian art, and once the designs are finalized, they coordinate with our artisan team in China’s Silk Village. These artisans have been passing down the craftsmanship of traditional kimono design for generations. Their skill and knowledge is invaluable and one of a kind. That’s why you can’t find replications of our ladies dusters and bridal silk robes anywhere else. We spend time each day working on finalizing designs based on our aesthetic inspiration and their generations-old handcrafted techniques.
Our Warehouse Heroes: Quality Assuring Every Order
And finally, our entire team works to ensure each and every package gets shipped out quickly and flawlessly. Our warehouse team quality checks each package at least twice to ensure its both correct and as beautiful as you expect when it arrives at your door. From wrapping our flower silk robes in the traditional Fuorshiki Gift Wrap to expediting orders to help make those most important gifts arrive on time for you, we take the order fulfillment part of our day as seriously as the rest. It’s at this moment — opening up your delivered package – when you get to experience our ladies dusters or men’s silk bathrobes for the first time. And we want it to be an unforgettable and beautiful experience each and every time you do.
As a small family business, we happen to think our daily ritual of bringing beauty to your doorstep is the most fun we could have each day. We love our community and are constantly inspired by you. We hope this transparency behind the scenes of our business provides you a little inspiration too to find your favorite and know it was made for you with love.
